Liminality: the state of being ‘betwixt and between’ is one of anthropology’s most influential concepts. This volume reconsiders Victor Turner’s innovative extension of Arnold Van Gennep’s concept of liminality from within the Manchester tradition of Social Anthropology established by Max Gluckman. Turner’s work was grounded in ethnography and engaged with philosophical perspectives in varied socio-historical contexts, extending well-beyond the confines of the anthropology that initially inspired much of his work. Liminality has therefore become a concept with broad interdisciplinary reach. Engaging with topical issues across the globe – from neuroscience to open access publishing and refugee experiences in Europe – this volume launches Turner’s fundamental work into the future.
Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations
Introduction: Liminality: Structure/Anti-Structure and Egalitarian Dynamics
Bruce Kapferer
Part I: Liminality and Ethnography
Chapter 1. The Pivoting of the Sacred: Arnold Van Gennep's Patio-Temporality of the Liminal
Bjorn Thomassen
Chapter 2. The Parable of the Foot Bridge: Creativity and Change in the In-Between
Paul Stoller
Chapter 3. Searching for My Brother: Liminality and Blood Brotherhood in Rwanda
Christopher C. Taylor
Chapter 4. The Rigours of the Liminal: Effecting the Real in Theatrical Labour
Daniel Scherer and Martin Holbraad
Chapter 5. Sacrifice, Sovereignty and the Dynamics of Structure and Anti-Structure
Rohan Bastin
Part II: Multiple Meanings of Communitas
Chapter 6. Communitas and Practice in the Baltimore Rhythm Festival
Rory Turner
Chapter 7. Insight Meditation: Liminality Without Excitement
Ward Keeler
Chapter 8. The Unbearable Weight of Music: The Intermezzo
Steven M. Friedson
Part III: Liminoid Spaces and the Politics of Liminality
Chapter 9. Mahishi’s Rage: Communitas and Protest at Sabarimala, Kerala
Dinesan Vadakkiniyil
Chapter 10. Weaving Value in the Liminal Space of the Istanbul Bazaar
Patricia Scalco
Chapter 11. Vicissitudes of Liminality in Complex Performance Systems
John MacAloon
Chapter 12. France and its Purgatory
Andre Iteanu
Chapter 13. Liminality and Communitas: The Making of Refugees in Switzerland
Marina Gold
Chapter 14. Open Access and the Subjunctive Mood in Scholarly Publishing
Kirsten Bell
Chapter 15. How Book Haram's 'Liminal' Child Witches and Child Soldiers Challenge the Capitalist State
Caroline Ifeka
Chapter 16. Immanence and Process: Between 1984 and Brave New World, The Trump Transmutation
Bruce Kapferer and Roland Kapferer
Part IV: Extensions
Chapter 17. Finding Likeness: Neural Plasticity and Ritual Experience
Robert Turner
Afterword: Liminality - Contemplating the Hypothetically Potent Conjunction of the Social and the Physical
Don Handelman
References
Index
About the Author :
Bruce Kapferer is Honorary Professor University College London and Professor Emeritus, University of Bergen, where he is Director of the project Egalitarianism: Forms, Processes, Comparisons, which is supported by an ERC Advanced Grant. His recent publications include Democracy’s Paradox: Populism and its Contemporary Crisis, co-edited with Dimitrios Theodossopoulos (Berghahn Books, 2019).
Review :
“This is a very rich collection combining theoretical relevance with a wide spectrum of empirical material. The reader is taken on a fascinating journey including themes that range from blood brotherhood rituals in Rwanda to the symbolic power of Olympic games as complex performance systems, from the ambivalence of music intermezzos in Africa and America to the brave new world of the US in a post-capitol uprising world.” • Harald Wydra, University of Cambridge
“This is an outstanding and magisterial treatment of the work of Victor Turner on liminality and ritual, structure and communitas (or anti-structure) and of his theory’s past and present significance and indeed of its future potential.” • Donald Nonini, University of North Carolina
